


Declaring War

by Hekate1308



Series: Balance and New Beginnings [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, M/M, season 12 au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 08:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10532787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: Sam doesn’t realize how far he has come until Mom finds them.It’s hard to believe it’s only been three months since Cas chastised him on that bench.





	

Sam doesn’t realize how far he has come until Mom finds them.

It’s hard to believe it’s only been three months since Cas chastised him on that bench.

Once he decided he actually was all in, though –            

_“So you are saying we could find out what they are planning next?” Dean asks, excitedly._

_He nods, his eyes falling on the book on Dean’s nightstand._

_Poems by Christina Rossetti._

_He would have bet Dean didn’t even know that name._

_“I need a few days. Have to make sure they don’t notice I’m hacking them.”_

_“Sure, Sammy.”_

_He hasn’t called him Sammy since he returned._

_He points at the book._

_“Which one is your favourite?”_

_“Love from the North” Dean answers immediately, without even blushing._

_Being with Cas – and perhaps his friendship with Crowley – has done him good._

_“I always preferred Emily Dickinson...”_

_Dean rolls his eyes._

_“Of course you would. Some of us don’t like to be depressed after reading poetry”._

It was the first of many talks like that.

Yes, he had his setbacks – when he felt like he was still treated unfairly, even though he was hacking the Men of Letters’ database constantly, and they could help even more people – but always something happened to check these tendencies really quickly, now that he paid attention.

_“No – “_

_Frustrated with his brother’s lack of progress at their latest hunt/actually rescue mission but for some reason they’re not calling it that, he takes the laptop out of Dean’s hands._

_Only for the first time, he sees the resignation in his eyes, and abruptly hands it back to him mumbling “sorry”._

* * *

 

_Crowley shows up at the end of an old, regular hunt where all three of them took quite a beating._

_Sam almost screams when Dean hands him the keys to the Impala._

_Dean and Cas get in the backseat, naturally._

_“Don’t look at me like that, Moose. I’m not one for cuddling.”_

_He rolls his eyes and ignores him._

_Until he realizes that the King of Hell keeps throwing Dean and Cas and even him small glances, as if making sure they are okay._

* * *

 

_The girl is taking way too long telling her story. Sam understands she just survived an attack, but they have to move quickly –_

_Yet, before he can say anything, Cas kneels down next to her and murmurs something, Dean watching them with soft eyes._

_When they leave, the girl is smiling, and it doesn’t feel like a lot of time has been lost._

* * *

 

He’s learned so much about his brother in the last three months.

He always thought Dean was brave, and strong, and kind.

Now he knows he’s also romantic, gentle, incredibly intelligent and quick-witted.

* * *

 

_“Hey” he absent-mindedly says one day, “Kelpies only live in fresh water, right?”_

_“Yeah” Dean replies in the same tone, “and you can escape them by getting salt water between yourself and the damn thing.”_

_“Has that been proven? The Men of Letters are – “_

_“It didn’t devour me at the time, so I assume it’s true.”_

_“When did you hunt a Kelpie?”_

_Dean puts the book he was perusing away._

_“I was... twenty-three, I think?”_

_Oh._

_Sam never even asked about the years he’d been at college._

_“Where did you get the salt water?”_

_“Engineered some in a bottle before I left the motel. Kind of easy. Get water, put salt in.”_

_“Smart”._

_Dean shrugs._

_“You do what you have to do.”_

* * *

 

The monsters and other hunsters were slow to trust him. Now he can easily understand why. He did the right thing leaving the Men of Letters, but he should never have joined them in the first place, and he was a little... stand-offish in the beginning.

Thankfully, he learned.

_The vegan djinn – “Just call me Al” – is back._

_Sadly, Dean and Cas are on a milk run._

_Literally, these days. Dean doesn’t drink anymore._

_That leaves Sam and the djinn sitting in an  awkward silence. The first time they met, they almost got into a fight. And that was when Dean and Cas were there._

_“How are you holding up?” Sam asks eventually._

_Al narrows his eyes._

_He holds up his hands. He’s just so... tired of the whole damn thing._

_“I’m not judging you. I promise. I just want to know.”_

_He relaxes._

_When Dean and Cas return, they find them “geeking out about A Thousand And One Nights” as Dean calls it, although he adds, “Plus the translations you’re talking about aren’t worth it.”_

Now, he can even admit that Crowley has his good points.

_“All alone tonight, Moose?”_

_“Dean and Cas are on a date.”_

_He can’t begrudge his brother and best friend the chance to enjoy their new-found relationship._

_“Puke-inducing sweet, aren’t they”._

_They both know Crowley doesn’t mean it._

_He still keeps Sam company until they return, and it’s actually kind of nice._

It really feels normal now, having dinner with Dean, Cas and Crowley.

Espeically since they are celebrating saving another family of ghouls.

The kids are three and four year olds. Sam shudders when he contemplates what the Men of letters would have done.

And all of a sudden, Mom shows up.

Sam is shocked at how little he cares. He can even watch her walk away without regrets.

If he thought that was the last he’d hear from her in a while, he’s mistaken though.

Because she starts on him again, the same way he now sees she did before.

She sends him texts, asking him how he is, leaving sly comments about Dean.

 _I know_ you _don’t want us to be odds._

_If you feel lonely, you can always call. I assume your brother is often preoccupied._

_Have you been translating any old texts lately? It can’t be easy, doing all the brain work alone._

What bothers him the most is remembering that once it didn’t.

This time though there are no secrets.

The second he gets the first text – the you don’t don’t want us to be at odds one – he knocks on Cas’ and Dean’s door.

“Oh, hey Mel” he says when he recognizes the water wraith.

“Hi” she calls out from the bath tub she’s lying in.

“Got in a bit of a scuffle, no one was hurt thankfully.”

“Was it the Men of Letters?” he asks, concerned.

“Oh no, just a regular hunter. Knocked him out. I just need a place to stay for the night.”

“We thought you were already asleep, otherwise we’d have told you” Cas tells him.

“I know that. You guys okay here, or should I take Mel back to mine?”

“Ever the charmer, Winchester” she calls out and he winks at her as he pulls Dean aside.

“It’s Mom.”

“What does she want?”

He shows him the text.

Dean sighs.

“She’s not very subtle, is she.”

The resignation Sam saw on his face when Mom left for the first time is still there, the pain isn’t.

“You’re gonna answer her?” Dean asks, his voice neutral.

“Of course not.”

Dean nods, a small smile on his lips.

“I just hope she doesn’t tell the British pricks where we are.”

“I doubt it” Sam says somewhat bitterly. “They are all over her. She wouldn’t risk their standing with them.”

 Dean raises an eyebrow.

“Man, John would have loved that.”

They haven’t talked about Dad in... a long time.

But Dean’s – right. Dad would have been with the Men of Letters in an instant, which is why Sam left when he started seeing him in a mirror.

Apparently their parents weren’t as badly matched as they always thought.

“Want us to get you a new phone?”

“I like knowing that she’s out there” he admits. It’s still Mom.

Dean smiles and squeezes his shoulder.

“Hey, no hard feelings. It’s your call.”

And that’s where they leave it.

They drop Mel off a few hundred miles from where she found them. Granted, they have to make quite a lot of stops because she can’t live too long outside of water, but it’s worth it when they watch her being reunited with the cousins she hasn’t seen in years.

They are doing that, whether Mom understands or not.

A few weeks in, she’s growing desperate.

_I talked to Mick. You can always return._

“Mick?” Dean asks when he wordlessly hands him the phone. “Wasn’t he the guy you nerd-bonded over?”

Sam throws a pointed look at the copy of _Alice in Wonderland_ Dean checked out of the local library an hour ago.

“I know, I know” Dean rolls his eyes, “But come on, could he even shoot a gun?”

“Yes. Just wasn’t much use in the field.”

“Oooooooooh exciting, 0 minus the 07 still wants you.”

Sam shoves him aside.

“Shut up” he murmurs, but he means it nicely.

Crowley appears, looking angry and – worried?

“What is it?” Dean asks immediately.

“Someone just rode into town. Faux leather jacket, compensating-for-something motor bike, psychopath?”

Dean swears. “Ketch is here?”

“And based on the arsenal he brought with him, I would say he means business. Do you want me to take care of it?”

Time was when he would have just acted without asking them first. It’s certainly nice to be in on whatever he’s planning.

Dean and Cas share a look in the unspoken language of lovers who know each other as well as they know themselves, and then his brother asks, “Sam?”

And here’s the thing. Even when he was still convinced the Men of Letters were right, he didn’t like Ketch. He likes the killing part of hunting too much.

But still... leaving him to a demon, even if it’s Crowley...

“We should talk to him.”

It probably won’t do much, but still...

Dean nods.

“Figured. Just so you know, if he tries anything, I –“

“You won’t have to” Crowley says simply.

“You’ll come with?”

The demon stares at him as if he’s actually transformed into a moose after all.

Of course he comes with.

It’s not hard to find Ketch.

He’s in the most comfortable hotel in town, naturally.

“Not even a pool is worth that” Dean mutters. He brightens up when Crowley tells him Ketch is drinking at the bar.

“Wanna do this the fun way?” he asks.

Cas immediately takes his hand.

“We’ll bring him out” the former angel announces and they saunter off.

“Don’t talk to any strangers” Crowley calls after them with a somewhat indulgent expression.

They’re back within five minutes.

Ketch looks disgusted, and it takes Sam a moment to realize it’s not about Dean and Cas being a couple.

It’s about Cas having lost his angel powers.

Ketch is really into power, he knows that. He thinks that’s why he went after Mom in the first place. The power she held over them.

His eyes widen when he takes Crowley in, though.

“You are – “

“Crowley, King of Hell. No reason to introduce yourself, I won’t need to use your name in the future.”

Before the situation can escalate, Dean steps in.

“Why are you in town?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? Mary spilled the beans on what you have been doing. You are risking our mission.”

And it only goes down from here.

It ends how it can hardly fail to end.

It becomes obvious that Ketch wants to kill them – and every single monster he ever comes across – and that he cares about little else.

 Sam swallows. He thinks back to everything he saw, everything Ketch did.

How long did he torture that wendigo again before setting it on fire?

There’s no need to speak.

They look at Crowley and nod.

A moment later, both him and Ketch are gone.

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t see this coming” Dean says with satisfaction.

Sam doesn’t pity Ketch either.

They are aware what they have done, of course.

They have openly declared war on the Men of Letters.

They need to get them out of their country. It was inevitable.

A day later, Sam gets the last text Mom will ever send him, at least he thinks so at the moment.

_They are coming for you._


End file.
